PureLiFi, a spin out of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, is developing what it calls ‘LiFi’ technology, an alternative to wireless networking, such as WiFi or 5G, based on visible light communication (VLC). Specifically, the tech uses pulsating LED light, imperceptible to the human eye, as a way of sending data from one LiFi-equipped device to another.
Today the startup is disclosing that it’s raised £1.5 million in a new round of funding round led by Scottish-based angel group London & Scottish Investment Partners (LSIP), with additional funding from the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB) and Old College Capital, the venture investment arm of the University of Edinburgh.
Des chercheurs de la Faculté des sciences et de génie et du Centre d'optique, photonique et laser de l'Université Laval ont mis au point des textiles intelligents capables de capter des informations biomédicales sur les personnes qui les portent et de les transmettre par WiFi ou cellulaires. Cette percée technologique, dont les détails sont rapportés dans un article publié récemment dans la revue Sensors, pourrait déboucher d'ici quelques années sur une foule d'applications destinées aux personnes souffrant de maladies chroniques, aux personnes âgées vivant seules ou même aux pompiers et policiers en service.
THE new year has arrived at last, so it is natural to reflect on the happenings of the previous year.
In 2014, software companies overshadowed other industries in terms of the most rapidly growing in North America. Let us examine the fastest-growing technology industries of 2014 and discuss how these industries will affect 2015.
Deloitte Technology Fast 500
Every year, Deloitte Technology Fast 500 recognises tech’s fastest-growing companies. These companies include public and private, as well as large and small. Innovative industries included are software, hardware, semiconductors, clean technology, life sciences and telecoms.
Where does the human end and the machine begin? In the era of neuroprosthetics, tiny electronic devices embedded in the body that stimulate the brain and other parts of the nervous system to improve their function, this question may soon get harder to answer.
Last week, for example, researchers at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, introduced a flexible neural implant that delivers electric and chemical pokes directly to the nervous system. In early trials, it allowed paralyzed rats to walk again with fewer side effects than other treatments.
Germany’s tech scene saw increased funding figures for its tech hub, Berlin, increased foreign VC participation, and one of its most notable investors go public in 2014. With this increased buzz and VC dollars, 15 VC-backed tech companies raised $20M+ rounds of financing this past year. The largest was Delivery Hero, the online food ordering site which closed three separate rounds of financing totaling over $450M, including a $350M Series G which valued the company at $1B.
500 Startups-backed AstroPrint has made a combination of cloud platform, local software and hardware to enable the management of 3D printing from any device that can connect to the web with a modern browser.
For those not aware, the actual process of 3D printing is about as interesting to watch in real-time as ants building out their tunnels in an ant farm. It happens slowly, with tiny mechanisms adding slice after slice, layer after layer, until you have something that actually looks like a recognizable shape.
Diabetics engage in a painful ritual every day, often several times: pricking their fingers with a spring-loaded needle to test the glucose in their blood. But that ritual could soon be put to rest, and replaced by a small patch designed to extract and measure blood-sugar levels. Flexible, easy to apply, and inconspicuous, the next-generation wearable is a promising step toward noninvasive monitoring of diabetes, a disease that affects 29.1 million people in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control [PDF].
Although it hasn’t gone public yet, Israel-based public transport app maker Moovit’s valuation is, according analysts, well into IPO territory.
The company last week announced a new Series C funding round of $50 million – which, according to analysts, means that the company is worth as much as $450 million.
Among those investors were investment houses Keolis, Bernard Arnault Group and Vaizra; Nokia Growth Partners, the mobile tech company’s venture capital arm; and, perhaps curiously for a VC sponsored by a car company, BMW i Ventures is also part of the investment in an Israeli company that strives to be the Waze of public transportation.
Late for a meeting and worried you won’t find parking? Don’t worry: That drone flying above your car has got your back.
It may be some time before that wonderful vision of the future comes to pass, but Siemens thought enough of University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student Amir Ehsani Zonouz’s concept for “intelligent parking drone technology” to name it the winner of the company’s first-ever Mobility IDEA contest.
The Food and Drug Administration posted two draft guidance documents today saying that it intends to use a light touch when regulating medical devices and accessories that are focused on general wellness.
Such products are those designed to “maintain or encourage a general state of health and may associate a healthy lifestyle with reducing the risk or impact of certain diseases or conditions.”
Many in the medical tech community have been deeply concerned that an overzealous FDA could stifle desperately-needed innovation in the development of new health technologies. Those people are likely to be happy about today’s news.
